Employee Sues Montana Hospital for Whistleblower Firing on Nuclear Waste

A fired Montana employee from Bozeman Deaconess Hospital has filed a lawsuit contending he was dismissed after reporting to federal authorities safety concerns involving radiation treatment and nuclear waste storage.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that medical physicist Lawrence Slate filed the lawsuit last week in Gallatin District Court.

Slate contends he was fired April 26 in retaliation for reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Slate in the lawsuit says the hospital lost a vial of radioactive waste he believes went to the Logan landfill.

Slate says that when he voiced concerns to Chief Operating Officer Liz Lewis he was rebuffed.

Slate also says the cancer center treated patients with radiation without clear evidence they had cancer.

Hospital officials declined to comment.